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=====Role of the Analyst=====
The [[role]] of the [[analyst]] in the [[treatment]] is twofold.
First and foremost, he must listen to the [[analysand]], but he must also intervene by [[speaking]] to the [[analysand]].
=====Function of Interpretation=====
Although the [[analyst]]'s [[speech]] is characterized by many different kinds of [[speech|speech act]] -- asking questions, giving instructions, etc. -- it is the offering of [[interpretation]]s which plays the most crucial and distinctive role in the [[treatment]].
Broadly speaking, the [[analyst]] can be said to offer an [[interpretation]] when he says something that subverts the [[analysand]]'s [[conscious]] "everyday" way of [[looking]] at something.
=====Sigmund Freud=====
[[Freud]] first began offering [[interpretation]]s to his [[patient]]s in [[order]] to [[help]] [[them]] [[memory|remember]] an [[idea]] that had been [[repressed]] from [[memory]].
These [[interpretation]]s were educated guesses [[about]] what the [[patient]]s had omitted from their account of the events which led up to the [[formation]] of their [[symptom]]s.
=====Example=====
For example, in one of the earliest [[interpretation]]s, [[Freud]] told one [[patient]] that she had not revealed all her motives for the intense affection she showed towards her employer's [[children]], and went on to say; "I believe that really you are in [[love]] with your employer, the Director, though perhaps without [[being]] aware of it yourself."<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence]]", 1895d. [[SE]] III, 43. p. 117</ref>
=====Purpose of Interpretation=====
The [[purpose]] of the [[interpretation]] was to help the [[patient]] become [[conscious]] of [[unconscious]] [[thoughts]].
=====Psychoanalytic Method of Interpretation=====
The [[model]] of [[interpretation]] was set down by [[Freud]] in ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]''.<ref>{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900a. [[SE]] V.</ref>
Though only concerned explicitly with [[dreams]], [[Freud]]'s comments on [[interpretation]] in this [[work]] apply equally to all the [[other]] [[formation]]s of the [[unconscious]] -- [[parapraxes]], [[jokes]], [[symptoms]], etc.
====="Decoding" Method of Interpretation=====
In the second chapter of this work the psychoanalytic method of [[interpretation]] is distinguished from the "decoding" method of [[interpretation]] by the use of the method of [[free association]]: a [[psychoanalytic]] [[interpretation]] does not consist in attributing a [[signification|meaning]] to a [[dream]] by referring to a pre-existing [[system]] of [[equivalences]] but by referring to the [[free association|associations]] of the dreamer himself.
It follows that the same [[image]] will mean very different things if dreamed by different [[people]].
=====Sigmund Freud=====
Even when [[Freud]] later came to recognize the [[existence]] of "[[symbolism]]" in [[dreams]] (i.e. the fact that there are some [[images]] which have fixed [[universal]] [[meanings]] in addition to their unique meaning for the [[individual]] dreamer), he always maintained thaat [[interpretation]] should focus primarily on the [[particular]] meaning and warned against "overestimating the importance of [[symbols]] in dream interpretation."<ref>{{F}} ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]'', 1900a. [[SE]] V., pp. 359-60.</ref>
=====Interpretation in Analysis=====
Early on in the [[history]] of the psychoanalytic movement, [[interpretation]] rapidly came to be the most important tool of the [[analyst]], his primary means for achieving therapeutic effects in the [[patient]].
=====Interpretation of Unconscious Meaning of the Symptom=====
Since [[symptom]]s were held to be the expression of a [[repressed]] idea, the [[interpretation]] was seen to [[cure]] the [[symptom]] by helping the [[patient]] become [[conscious]] of the idea.
=====Declining Effect of Interpretation=====
However, after the initial period in which the offering of [[interpretation]]s seemed to achieve remarkable effects, in the decade 1910-20 [[analyst]]s began to notice that their [[interpretation]]s were becoming less effective.
In particular, the [[symptom]] would persist even after the [[analyst]] had offered exhaustive [[interpretations]] of it.
=====Possible Explanation=====
=====Resistance to Becoming Conscious=====
In order to explain this, [[analyst]]s turned to the [[concept]] of [[resistance]], arguing that it is not sufficient simply to offer an [[interpretation]] of the [[unconscious]] [[meaning]] of the [[symptom]] but that it is also necessary to get rid of the [[patient]]'s [[resistance]] to becoming fully [[conscious]] of this [[meaning]].
=====Jacques Lacan=====
[[Lacan]], however, proposes a different explanation.
He argues that the decreasing efficacy of [[interpretation]]s after 1920 was due to a "closure" of the [[unconscious]] which the [[analyst]]s themselves had provoked.<ref>{{S2}} p.10-11; {{S8}} p.390</ref>
Among other things, [[Lacan]] blames the increasing tendency of the first generation of [[analyst]]s to base their [[interpretation]]s more on [[symbol]]ism (despite [[Freud]]'s warnings to the contrary), thereby returning to the pre-psychoanalytic "decoding" method of [[interpretation]].
Not only did this reduce [[interpretation]]s to set [[formulas]], but the [[patient]]s soon came to be able to predict exactly what the [[analyst]] would say about any particular [[symptom]] or [[free association|association]] they produced (which, as [[Lacan]] wryly comments "is surely the most annoying trick which can be played on a fortune-teller"<ref>{{Ec}} p.462</ref>).
[[Interpretation]]s thus lacked both relevance and shock-[[value]].
=====Popularity of Psychoanalytic Theory=====
Other [[analyst]]s before [[Lacan]] had recognized the problems caused by the fact that [[patient]]s were increasingly knowledgable of [[psychoanalytic theory]].
However, the solution which they proposed for this problem was that "too much [[knowledge]] on the part of the patient should be replaced by more knowledge on the part of the analyst."<ref>Ferenczi, Sándor and Rank, Otto. "The [[Development]] of [[Psychoanalysis]]," trans. [[Caroline]] Newton, J. ''Nerv. Ment. Dis.'', Monograph, no. 40. 1925. p.61</ref>
In other [[words]], they urged the [[analyst]] to elaborate even more [[complex]] theories in order to stay one step ahead of the [[patient]].
=====Jacques Lacan=====
[[Lacan]], however, proposes a different solution.
What is needed, he argues, is not [[interpretations]] of every-increasing complexity, but a different way of approaching [[interpretation]] altogether.
Hence [[Lacan]] calls for a "renewed [[technique]] of interpretation,"<ref>{{E}} p.82.</ref> one that challenges the basic assumptions underlying the classical psychoanalytic model of [[interpretation]].
=====Classical Psychoanalytic Model of Interpretation=====
Classical [[interpretation]]s generally took the [[form]] of attributing to a [[dream]], a [[symptom]], a [[parapraxis]], or an [[association]], a [[meaning]] not given to it by the [[patient]].
For example the [[interpretation]] may be of the form "What you really mean by this symptom is that you [[desire]] ''x''."
=====Interpretation Unmasks Hidden Unconscious Meaning=====
The fundamental assumption was that the [[interpretation]] unmasks a hidden [[meaning]], the [[truth]] of which could be confirmed by the [[patient]] producing more [[free association|association]]s.
It is this assumption that [[Lacan]] challenges, arguing that [[analytic]] [[interpretation]]s should no longer aim at discovering a hidden [[meaning]], but rather at disrupting [[meaning]].
=====Interpretation as Disruption of Meaning=====
<blockquote>"Interpretation is directed not so much at 'making [[sense]]' as towards reducing the signifiers to their 'non-sense' in order thereby to find the determinants of all the [[subject]]'s conduct."<ref>{{S11}} p.212</ref></blockquote>
[[Interpretation]] thus inverts the [[relationship]] between [[signifier]] and [[signified]]: instead of the normal production of [[meaning]] ([[signifier]] produces [[signified]]), [[interpretation]] works at the level of ''s'' to generate S: [[interpretation]] causes "irreducible signifiers" to arise, which are "non-sensical."<ref>{{S11}} p. 250</ref>
Hence it is not a question, for [[Lacan]], of fitting the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]] into a preconceived interpretive [[matrix]] or [[theory]] (as in the "decoding" method), but of disrupting all such theories.
=====Analysand's Message Addressed to Himself=====
Far from offering the [[analysand]] a new [[message]], the [[interpretation]] should serve merely to enable the [[analysand]] to hear the [[message]] he is [[unconsciously]] addressing to himself.
The [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] always has other [[meaning]]s apart from that which he [[consicously]] intends to convey.
The [[analyst]] plays on the ambiguity of the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]], bringing out its multiple meanings.
Often the most effective way for the [[interpretation]] to achieve this is for it too to be ambiguous.
By interpreting in this way, the [[analyst]] sends the [[analysand]]'s [[message]] back to the [[analysand]] in its [[true]], [[inversion|inverted form]].
=====Tactic of Interpretation=====
An [[interpretation]] is therefore not offered to gain the [[analysand]]'s assent, but is simply a tactical device aimed at enabling the [[analysand]] to continue [[speech|speaking]] when the flow of [[free association|association]]s has become locked.
=====Interpretation and Reality=====
The value of an [[interpretation]] does not lie in its correspondence with [[reality]], but simply in its [[power]] to produce certain effects; an [[interpretation]] may therefore be inexact, in the sense of not corresponding to "the facts," but nevertheless true, in the sense of having powerful [[symbolic]] effects.<ref>{{E}} p. 237</ref>
=====Role of the Analyst=====
=====Analysand's Speech as Text=====
[[Lacan]] argues that in order to [[interpret]] in this way, the [[analyst]] must take the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]] absolutely literally (''à la [[lettre]]'').
That is, the task of the [[analyst]] is not to achieve some [[imaginary]] intuitive grasp of the [[analysand]]'s "hidden message," but simply to read the [[analysand]]'s [[discourse]] as if it were [[text]], attending to the [[formal]] features of this [[discourse]], the [[signifiers]] that [[repeat]] themselves.<ref>{{S2}} p. 153</ref>
=====Understanding=====
Hence [[Lacan]]'s frequent warnings of the dangers of "[[Interpretation|understanding]]."
<blockquote>"The less you [[understand]], the better you listen."<ref>{{S2}} p. 141</ref></blockquote>
[[Interpretation|Understanding]] (''comprendre'') has [[negative]] connotations for [[Lacan]], implying a kind of [[listening]] that seeks only to fit the other's [[speech]]] into a preformed theory.<ref>{{E}} p. 270; {{S2}} p. 130; {{S8}} p. 229-30</ref>
In order to do avoid this, the [[analyst]], must "forget what he [[knows]]" when listening<ref>{{Ec}} p.349</ref> and when offering [[interpretation]]s must do so "exactly as if we were completely ignorant of theory."<ref>{{L}} "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|The Neurotic's Individual Myth]]," 1953b, trans. Martha Evans, in L. Spurling (ed.), ''[[Sigmund Freud]]: Critical Assessments,'', vol. II, ''The Theory and [[Practice]] of Psychoanalysis'', [[London]] and New York: Routledge, 1989, p. 227.</ref>
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Analysand]]
* [[Analyst]]
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* [[Consciousness]]
* [[Signifier]]
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* [[Speech]]
* [[Symptom]]
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* [[Treatment]]
* [[Unconscious]]
{{Also}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Treatment]]
[[Category:Practice]]
[[Category:Dictionary]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Symbolic]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:OK]]
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